


A Hoard to Protect

by Daughter_of_Scotland



Series: Creature AUs [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Coldwave Creature Au, Creature Fic, Jealousy, Len has a unique hoard, Len is getting confused by instincts, Len is not dead, M/M, canon up until the end of LoT Season 1, dragon!Len, mention of Lewis being awful, not having a hoard makes you sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8544664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_Scotland/pseuds/Daughter_of_Scotland
Summary: Len's a Dragon with a very small hoard. A chance for his hoard to grow is not actually a good thing.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nirejseki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, Robin!  
> I hope you like it!
> 
> This also fits the Coldwave Creature AU Bingo :D

Mommy’s hoard had been beautiful. Glittering, making rainbows in the light. It had also been cold and uncomfortable whenever Leo tried to sleep on it. Mommy scolded him gently, telling him that his soft human-skin wasn't ready for sleeping on jewels yet.

 

Leo never found out what it felt like to sleep on them after his skin grew leathery and hardened scales replaced the pink on his underbelly. Father sold mommy’s hoard when Leo was still small enough fit in the place between Mommy’s wings.

 

Mommy wasted away. Her hoard had been years in the making, and without it, he wings grew dull and her scales flaked off her skin. Her Fire dried up. And one day she was gone.

 

Before this, Leo’s hoard had been ever-growing. The kids from the street and from kindergarten flocked around him like sheep around the Shepard - or like a hoard around a dragon.

But after Leo’s father took Mommy’s hoard, Leo learned that humans can't be trusted. They could betray you so easily.

 

Leo’s hoard grew smaller, and so did he. His mind was sharp, but it dulled. So did his morals. Pain, that before had seemed a ridiculous concept, became part of his life - in big parts because of Father.

His hoard was reduced to Grandpa and later Lisa.

 

Lisa, the little one, the non-dragon kin, his heart and soul. He would protect her, Leo swore as he looked over her in the light of the moon. She was his life-line and he would keep her safe.

 

Grandpa died and Lisa wasn't safe. But Len - because Leo had died under Father’s fists so long ago - found another human for his hoard.

 

Mick came to him, found him, protected him. He didn't shy away from the ice in Len’s eyes, the last Fire he had left.

He stroked Len’s scars and scales and found them equally breathtaking.

He looked at Lisa in the light of the moon and vowed to protect her.

 

Len’a hoard was small - too small, to be perfectly honest - but it was fierce. It would keep him alive, even if it never grew beyond two people.

 

When Mick betrayed him, when he stopped to stay and love the human-made fire more than the Fire in Len’s eyes, Len only managed to keep it together long enough to bring him to a hospital. Then he left. He went to spend time with Lisa, who understood and mourned with him the loss of her hoard-brother. Len grew even colder after, and when he found the Cold Gun it felt like his Fire came to life in his hand instead of in his throat.

 

He called Mick back to his side and his Fire burned brighter than ever when his friend, his partner, came without trouble.

 

“Your Fire will always be the most beautiful one,” Mick said as he let Len lick and nose at his scars, as he ran his hands on the familiar scales in return, the ones only he and Lisa got to touch. “I’m sorry I made you doubt.”

 

Len forgave him, as he always would. And then he told Mick about The Flash.

 

Mick’s laughter was like roaring flames, warming Len from every angle. “You want to bring us a new brother?” Mick asked.

 

Len smirked. “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could?” he replied. “But no. He would be perfect, and I would love to have him in my hoard. But he would never agree.”

 

No, The Flash would never fight at the side of a Dragon - not when one of his kin had killed his mother. Len knew when he saw one, and this Harrison Wells was a Dragon just as surely as Len himself was.

 

“He can stay on the fringes, then,” Mick said, kissing a way down Len’s throat. “He’ll give you strength without him knowing. You just need to find out his name.”

 

Len’s eyes lit up and Mick stared at them reverently. “His name,” Len agreed. “Yes. Let’s find out.”

 

Names had power. Barry Allen might never be a real part of Len’s hoard, but knowing his name, his biggest secret, and having been touched by him - freely, of his own volition - gave Len enough of a boost to make his scales harder and shine brighter.

Mick and Lisa both approved. They liked having Len all to themselves, being special to him, but sometimes a little extra couldn’t hurt.

 

***

 

“What’s going on with you?”

 

Len looked up from the book he was reading and scowled at Mick. “Be more specific, Mick, I can’t read minds.”

 

“Yeah, right,” Mick snorted, a common argument between them. But he quickly grew serious again, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “You brought us on a suicide mission on a timeship. You _didn’t_ bring Lisa, even though you knew it would make ya more vulnerable. And now you’re getting all buddy-buddy with those heroes.”

 

Len shrugged and looked back to his book. “Thought it might be a nice adventure.”

 

“Bullshit,” Mick said and took a step closer, snatching the book away. Len glared at him.

 

“You’ve been doing this because of The Flash,” Mick accused him. “You want him to like you and you think if you act like a hero, he’ll join your hoard.”

 

Len sat up and stared at Mick. “If you know my mind so well, _Mick_ , then why are you asking?” he drawled.

 

“Because it’s a stupid reason, but I came along anyway,” Mick answered readily. “But now you’re… You’ve been acting strange for a while now. Lost in thought, less thinking ahead… What’s going on?”

 

Len looked away and Mick felt dread running through his stomach. He’d had an inkling of what might be going on but he’d hoped to be wrong…

 

“You’re adding to your hoard,” he breathed out. “Those… _White hats_ out there, you want them to become _part of us._ ”

 

Mick didn’t know what he’d do if Len tried to deny it. But when he didn’t, when he just looked up at Mick, so vulnerable, so confused, he just shook his head and tried to keep himself from hitting the man he loved more than even fire.

 

“I’m sorry,” Len whispered. “I’m so… It’s so _hard_ . Being here, on the ship, together with them… Sara is so fierce, just like Lisa, and Jax is like sunshine. Kendra is hurting so much, and it tastes like the sea whenever she cries, Carter smells of blood and _old_ , Stein knows so much, and Raymond… I just want to break him apart and build him back together for myself. I can’t… It’s so hard to control it.”

 

Mick wasn’t surprised Len didn’t mention Rip. Len had told him after their first meeting there was something off about him. But all the things Len had said just made the dread stronger.

 

“So they’re influencing you badly?” he surmised.

 

Len shook his head - not in denial but confusion. “I… I don’t know.”

 

Mick knew though. They needed to get off the ship, and fast.

 

***

 

His plan had failed. He had hoped to get Len to stay in 2046 long enough to get rid of the cobwebs he’d had in his head ever since he started to unexpectedly bond with the team, find a way to get back home later, and thus ending all the trouble. But Len had already been in too deep, and now here they were. In a deserted forest, staring each other down.

 

“You gonna kill me, Lenny?” Mick asked quietly. “Am I worth nothing now that you have your new team?”

 

“I… No…” Len shook his head, but the Cold Gun didn’t waver. Mick would prefer to die by Len’s natural Fire, instead of the mechanical one. “Damnit, Mick, you know I’d never do that!”

 

“And yet, here we are,” Mick pointed out. “Just you and me. Not even Lisa. So what are you going to do?”

 

Leave him, apparently.

 

When Mick woke up, he was alone. The last time he’d at least been in a hospital, with food and other humans. This time, he was absolutely alone.

 

He’d been half mad when the Time Masters came and picked him up. Mad enough to not fight their first attempts at brainwashing him. But you didn’t hang out with a Dragon most of your life without picking up some special skills. They never managed to touch his core, his love for his hoard-sister or his mate (Len hated when Mick called him that, but Mick just got a kick out of it). They could take his love and fascination for human-made fire, but Len’s own Fire, his scales that shimmered in the light, the way he left his mark on Mick… That would never fade. The Time Masters made him a weapon, but they never managed to destroy who Mick really was.

 

Well. He was _really_ pissed, though, and thus his plan to get Len back might not have been the most sane.

 

Scaring him into believing Mick would kill Lisa? Mick almost made himself sick just saying it. But it worked. Len came after him, but didn’t let the team kill him.

 

Mick was back on the Waverider.

 

He was also _terribly_ bored by all the talking people expected him to do. He felt like a sounding board most of the time. The one who _didn’t_ turn up, was Len.

 

Mick was ready to claw his own ears up from Raymond’s constant chattering, when Len finally did make an appearance. Only to invite Mick to beat his ass.

Well. Mick never needed much of an invitation.

 

“You’re weak,” he told Len after they were done. He had fought Len before, and had always lost. Dragon strength and all that. But this time… It wasn’t just Len not really fighting back. Len was actually lacking his usual strength.

 

“I know,” Len said, coughing and spitting out a wad of blood. Mick hoped Raymond would be the one to clean that up.

 

“Would have thought the team made you stronger instead,” Mick said, idly scratching his neck. Blood tickled.

 

“Not if I don’t accept them into my hoard,” Len answered, rolling to his knees and catching his breath.”

 

Mick lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Seriously? Why not?”

 

Len’s look was the one Mick got most often. The “Are you stupid?” one. It warmed Mick’s heart to see it again.

 

“Because _you_ are my hoard,” Len growled. “You and Lisa. The Flash, a bit, maybe. But no one else.”

 

Mick couldn’t help the wide smile that blossomed on his face. “That’s good to hear, boss,” he said. “But, you know, Sara’s not that bad really.”

 

Len’s look of utter incredulity was so worth the pain he felt by laughing with broken ribs.

 

“You’re saying this _now_?” Len asked, outraged.

 

Mick figured he deserved the right hook he got for laughing even harder.

 

***

 

Mick woke with a start. He recognized the med bay immediately, and Gideon was quick to inform him he was alright, except for a light concussion.

 

“Where’s Len?” he asked as soon as he laid eyes on Sara - and why Blondie was sitting in a chair next to his bed was anyone’s guess - who stared at him with wet eyes.

 

“Mick,” she said softly. “Len… He knocked you out at the Oculus -”

“Yeah, I know, he really needs to stop doing that,” Mick interrupted. “I’ll tell him myself. Where is he?”

 

Sara’s eyes filled with tears. “He… Mick. He destroyed the Oculus. He’s _dead_.”

 

Mick stared at her. _Are you crazy_ , he wanted to say. _Len’s a_ Dragon _, a little explosion won’t kill him_. But then he remembered that none of the crew knew about Len’s secret. They were part of his hoard, some more than others, but they didn’t know. So they wouldn’t know Len survived and they would have -

 

“You _left him there?”_ he growled and got up, ignoring the dizziness that threatened to overcome him.

 

“Mick, he _blew up_!” Sara exclaimed, still sitting on the chair. “You don’t - there’s no body! He’s been blown to pieces!”

 

Mick ignored her and left the med bay. When he stumbled on the bridge, Rip turned to him with a grave face.

  
“Mr. Rory, I’m very sorry for your -”

 

“Turn back,” Mick growled, stalking closer. “Turn this piece of junk around!”

 

Rip sputtered. “Mr. Rory, the Waverider is not - and we’ll certainly _not_ turn back! The Vanishing Point is gone, and there’s nothing left to be done there. You need to lie down and rest, you -”

 

Mick grabbed him by the coat and slammed him against the console, hard. “You turn this fucking ship around,” he whispered in his calmest voice. “If you don’t, I won’t just burn you - I’ll flay your skin from your body, piece by piece, cook them to crisps, and make you eat it.”

 

Rip’s face was ashen, and so was the rest of the team’s. Mick looked at them all and decided he needed to betray Len’s secret, just a bit, to make them really listen.

 

“Len’s alive,” he said and their eyes widened. “I know he is. And you _left him there_ , so now we’re going the fuck back to pick him up.”

 

Rip wanted to protest but Sara was already stalking to the captain’s seat. “Gideon,” she said. “Course to the Vanishing Point!”

 

“Of course, Ms. Lance,” came the AI’s voice and Rip gave up with an audible sigh.

 

“I know you’re grieving, Mr. Rory,” he said, straightening his jacket after Mick let him go. “And if it helps you to see the wreckage, then I won’t stop you.”

 

He left the room, then, while the rest of the team sat in their usual seats.

 

“Are you sure he’s alive?” Jax asked.

 

Mick gave a short nod. “It needs more than a little fire to kill Len,” he said, a small grin on his face. “He’ll be pissed it took us so long.”

 

“Well, actually, the Vanishing Point exists outside of time, so even if -”

 

“Shut up, Professor,” Mick interrupted him, his eyes on the front of the ship. “He’ll know how much time it took.”

 

***

 

Mick had been right, of course.

 

By the time they arrived at the Vanishing Point, the space was empty except for floating debris.

Mick took over the captain’s seat by then, having flown Kronos ship through enough situations like this to make sure they didn’t get damaged.

 

As they reached the biggest piece of debris, all that was left of the Vanishing point, they saw a lone figure standing on it.

 

The team stared at Len, standing on what amounted to a rock in space, his arms crossed, glaring up at them.

 

“How is he not suffocating?” Kendra whispered.

 

Mick grinned smugly. “Gideon,” he ordered. “Open one of the shutes. Time to bring him in.”

 

Ten minutes later, Len stalked onto the bridge, his eyes burning, right to where Mick was getting up from the seat. He grabbed Mick’s face, ignoring the way his ice-cold hands made Mick hiss in discomfort, and kissed him fiercely.

 

“You’re late,” he growled.

 

Mick hummed an affirmative. “Someone knocked me out,” he said pointedly. “Took me a while to wake up. Now take your hands off me, you’re fucking freezing.”

 

Len grumbled but did so. He ignored the rest of the team as he stalked off towards their room.

  
Mick followed happily, ignoring the stunned looks from their team. His Dragon was back. Everything else could be dealt with later.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love <3


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